More than 57,000 personal emails from the account of Turkey’s Minister of Oil Berat Albayrak have been made public by WikiLeaks
The emails, which allegedly contain details of exchanges between Albayrak and the Turkish ‘ruling elite’ were briefly published earlier this year, before being taken down following a crackdown by the Turkish government.
WikiLeaks alleges that the emails reveal ‘Albayrak’s involvement in organisations such as Powertrans, the company implicated in Isis oil imports’.
The company has been implicated in oil imports from ISIS-controlled oil fields.
Turkey banned oil transportation by road or railway in or out of the country in more than five years ago, but with provision for limited exceptions such as meeting the needs of the military.
WikiLeaks claims that the Turkish government later gave Powertrans the monopoly on the transit of oil.
Julian Assange, WikiLeaks founder, said the emails had been released after the Turkish government attempted to silence voices of dissent
Julian Assange, WikiLeaks founder, said the emails had been published in response to the Turkish government’s silencing of detractors.
He said: ‘The people of Turkey need a free media and a free internet.
‘The government’s counter-coup efforts have gone well beyond their stated purpose of protecting the state from a second Gulenist coup attempt and are now primarily used to steal assets and eliminate critics.
‘The Turkish government continues to use force to jail journalists, shut down media and restrict internet access to its citizens, depriving them of their ability to access information about their situation including by banning WikiLeaks.
‘This consolidation around the power vertical of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ultimately weakens Turkish institutionalism, leaving Turkey more susceptible to future coups by those in Erdoğan’s chain of command.’
